A 49 year-old man from Manorcunningham could face prison after he was convicted of child sex charges in Britain. Jerome Brennan, who ran the Le Chic network of lap-dancing clubs in Ireland, was charged with sexually grooming a 15 year-old girl over the internet.
A seven-day trial at the Teeside Crown Court heard how Brennan pretended to be the boss of a Spanish modelling agency to lure the young girl last October and November.
She claimed he offered her 'good money' to pose for his Marbella-based company. He also posed under various pseudonames on internet chatrooms to contact the girl online.
The young girl told the court how Brennan invited her to meet him at a local pub alone and to wear a skirt so she could show her underwear. However, she fled the pub after noticing him arriving in a battered Rover car.
The father of the girl later found messages from Brennan on his daughter's phone and they were traced back to the home of Brennan's sister.
Two days later, police caught trying to withdraw cash from a bank account with a passport stating the name Philip Pullman.
The court ordered Brennan to surrender his passport and to report to the police station three times a week until he is sentenced. The judge adjurned the case for pre-sentence reports and said to Brennan, "The very fact that I am asking for a report should not give you false hope.
This is a very serious charge". Brennan's lap-dancing club in Belfast was raided by the Immigration Department in 2002 and three women from South America and Eastern Europe were subsequently deported.
In the past, Brennan's ex-wife has accused him of regularly beating her unconscious while they lived in Derry with their three children.
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